ICC Champions Trophy: Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav's departures to England delayed

What’s the Story?

In what can be called as an unwanted mishap, ahead of their Champions Trophy defence, Indian cricketers Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav did not board the flight to the United Kingdom with the rest of their teammates on Wednesday night.

The former had put forth a request to the BCCI sometime back, seeking a few days of leave to attend a cousin’s wedding while the latter could not take the flight since his visa did not arrive on time despite the board asking the British High Commission to provide him with the clearance.

“His (Jadhav) visa is cleared now and he is expected to leave on Friday. We waited for it earlier but nothing happened till late on Wednesday evening. Both players will be available for first warm-up game on May 28.

“Rohit Sharma had made his request a long time back. So the BCCI agreed to the request,” a board official said.

In case you didn’t know...

The Indian team, led by Virat Kohli, departed for England on Wednesday in their defence of the Champions Trophy that they won under the leadership of MS Dhoni in June 2013. They are scheduled to play two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh at the Oval on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.

The heart of the matter

Ahead of the departure, skipper Virat kohli touched upon numerous issues surrounding the competition, including the roles of senior pros- Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni- and how the team would go about trying to retain the crown, which they won in such a flamboyant manner in 2013.

He further added that despite all the hype surrounding the India-Pakistan match, set to be played in Edgbaston on the 4^th of June, the players treat the game as a normal encounter and as professionals, they would look to not get too emotional about the game.

Extra Cover: ICC Champions Trophy: In our heads there is no difference when we play Pakistan, says Virat Kohli

What’s next?

The two cricketers will look to join the rest of their teammates in England at the earliest and get in-tune for the challenge that lies ahead of them. This will be Rohit’s maiden assignment with the Indian team since October while Jadhav began 2017 with a bang, playing a key role in India's 2-1 ODI series triumph over England.

Author's take

While Rohit's reasoning to not join his teammates on time is understandable, one really needs to think as to why Jadhav had to face issues surrounding his visa, when the rest of the group go theirs on time. Much to India’s relief, both players will join the squad before the opening warm-up game and hopefully, such incidents do not occur when the team makes future overseas trips.